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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Success on the court cannot necessarily be measured by society's traditional sources, those being win-loss columns. At least not yet. Overall development has to be taken into account, and this year, there was certainly improvement.

With such a young and inexperienced team, it's impressive that a dozen program records fell this season. Witness the evolution of Caltech Basketball.

The shot blocking has been talked about and was certainly a positive. The Beavers recorded 92 rejections in their 25 games, smashing the 2008-09 squad's accomplishment of 76. Ryan Elmquist had much to do with the stat as he accounted for more than half of the blocks (an individual season record 50 that bested the talented Ben Turk '98), which was just seven fewer than he and Travis Haussler '09 turned in last season. The eight swats against Chapman was also a team first for getting-that-stuff-out-of-here in one game.

The other team record? Field goal attempts in a season. Certainly worthwhile considering the lack of scoring opportunities due to turnovers and limited offensive rebounding.

Freshman Mike Edwards turned out to be as good as advertised as he broke six individual records (most noteworthy his 62 3-point makes that overtook the trifectas of Josh Moats '97), and entered the Top 10 in four other categories, including points in a season (470), scoring average (18.8 ppg), free throw percentage (.777), and steals in a season (44).

Besides the Elmquist shot blocking party, the junior forward became the No. 1 player in season free throw attempts (208), as he surpassed the foul line feats of Bryan Hires '08. Elmquist already holds the mark for freebies made and attempted in one game (17 of 19).

First-year cagers Collin Murphy and Ethan Boroson also entered the Top 10 in steals for a season (35) and assists per game (3.3), respectively.

Here is the complete list of records in the new era. For everything else, check here.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

By the way, since when does Pasadena get to claim so many important bowls? It doesn't really have a college team of its own, aside from those warrior-nerds of Caltech. Ever seen the Caltech basketball team? They're the topic of my latest screenplay, "White Guys Can't Pass Either."

We at CxB3 appreciate the "warrior-nerds" title -- that is pretty cool -- but we're not sure about the proposed screenplay. Seems a bit artificial, forced, and even off color.

First, there are 16 players on the active Caltech roster and just half of them are white. Second, in his attempt to creatively mock a sequel to the film about white men not jumping, he failed to note -- probably because he did no research -- that the Beavers are a good shot blocking team. Third, the team in Pasadena actually boasts a decent assist per field goal ratio. We explored this statistic in comparison to the rest of the SCIAC and a handful of the top teams in the nation, with the assumption that a good pass often leads to a made bucket.

Caltech falls in with a decent rate -- a respectable 54.8 percent of its field goals have an assist factored into the play. How do other teams rank?

Well, Maryville leads the nation in assists per game (20 per contest) and 58.1 percent of its FGs are linked to an assist. Williams, ranked second in the d3hoops.com poll, is at 53.9 percent. No. 1 Wash U, the defending national champion, is at a blistering 66.7 percent. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the regular season SCIAC champ, stands at just 43 percent.

Check out the full SCIAC standings in relation to assists/field goals.

Redlands = 55.4

Occidental = 55.4

Caltech = 54.8

La Verne = 54.0

Whittier = 51.1

Pomona-Pitzer = 50.5

Cal Lutheran = 47.9

Claremont-M-S = 43.1

Not that Asst/FG is a significant predictor of success, but interesting to say the least.

Maybe Erksine, at the very least, can come see for himself next season.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Facing Cal Lutheran on February 3, 2010, the Beavers' five blocked shots propelled them into the team record books as they set the mark for most rejections in one season. The previous number was 76, a total that was accumulated during the 2008-09 campaign. Caltech's current team now has 88 with three games to play.

With Ben Turk '98 in the crowd this past Saturday night, junior Ryan Elmquist tied a 12-year old record for blocked shots in a season with 47. Elmquist, who totaled four blocks against Occidental, now has 103 blocks in his career. Turk owns the career record with 126 and maintains the mark for most rejections in one game with six. (Official release from Saturday night).

Elmquist, who through this past weekend was ranked among the nation's elite in blocked shots (2.1 bpg), has blocked three or more shots in seven games this season.

Caltech set a program record against Chapman University on January 6 for most swats in one contest with eight. Elmquist was responsible for five of those on that historic evening. (Official release from Chapman game).

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Turk looks like he can still play -- a scoring and rebounding machine. Great overall support from alumni and friends. And congratulations to the 1,000 Point Club members. Click on their names in the left column for their details.

Friday, February 12, 2010

This weekend marks the second annual Men's Basketball Alumni Event. Former players and their families are invited back to campus to play in the alumni vs. alumni game and support the varsity squad as it takes on Occidental. Last year, in the first installment of the event, 20 alumni were here. The goal is to double that number this time.

Monday, February 1, 2010

The men's basketball staff has been busy digging up files and statistics in order to compile an updated and truly unprecedented record book. Some fascinating numbers have been uncovered. 1,000 point scorers. Team highs and lows. Individual milestones. Top 20 lists. Even a year-by-year account of game results.